Giant Anteater Faces Off With Jaguar, Leaves Unimpressed

Jaguar and Giant Anteater Standoff Ends With a TwistA photographer in Brazil captures a tense standoff between a giant anteater and a large male jaguar.

PUBLISHED March 7, 2018

In the middle of a cattle ranch in Brazil's Pantanal, a giant anteater appeared from the dense treeline and came down to drink at the edge of a lake. A wildlife photographer, watching from a rickety canoe on the water, had his camera trained on the animal when another movement caught his eye: a large male jaguar.

The big cat, with its neck of packed muscle and paws bigger than boxing gloves, silently padded toward the giant anteater and crouched behind it. The cat appeared ready to pounce—when something stopped him. (See rare camera-trap pictures of jaguars.)

Luke Massey, who has photographed wildcat species across the globe, says the September 2017 encounter was one of the strangest wildlife interactions he's ever witnessed.

"When I saw the jaguar strolling up behind the completely unaware—and at the time vulnerable—giant anteater, I just assumed I was either about to witness a kill or an almighty battle. I was not expecting the jaguar to lie down and watch."

Not on the Menu?

But it's not too surprising to Fernando Rodrigo Tortato, a field researcher for the Pantanal Jaguar Project, which is managed by the cat-conservation group Panthera.

"I believe that film is the other part of this story," says Munn, "for had the jaguar tried to go for the anteater at the lake, the anteater could have swung at him with his ridiculously sharp and powerful claws, and the jaguar could have expected to be either badly or even fatally injured."